The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued gazette notification further amending the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. With this amendment, the authority has specified new standards for canned tomatoes, as well as revised the standards related to thermally-processed tomato juice, jams, fruit jellies and marmalades.

The said regulations may be called the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Sixteenth Amendment Regulations, 2017, and the food business operators (FBOs) are instructed to comply with the said provisions by July 2018.

As per the notification, under the Fruits and Vegetable Products clause, the new standards for canned tomatoes have been added after the Thermally-Processed Vegetables category. It states that the canned tomatoes shall be prepared from selected, fresh, washed, cleaned, firm and ripe tomatoes of the variety Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.

It may also contain natural spices and condiments, spice oils, aromatic herbs and their extracts, natural aromas, seasoning and salt (sodium chloride). Acidifying agents and sugars, as prescribed in these regulations, may be added.

It should packed in either regular packs with a medium liquid or solid pack without any added liquid.

If canned tomatoes are packed as tomato juice, water or puree, the quantity of added common salt must not exceed three percent of the net, and the natural content of chlorides should be equal to two per cent of the dry weight content.

Whereas, when calcium chloride is added as a firming agent, the total calcium-ion content should not exceed 0.045 and 0.080 per cent in whole style and non-whole style, respectively, with the pH of the covering liquid not higher than 4.5.

Serial
Number

Characteristic

Requirement

(1)

(2)

(3)

1

Vacuum
in the can in mm(minimum)

Negative

2

Head
space in the can in mm(maximum)

Seven

3

Drained
weight of the content of the can as a
percentage
of the net weight(minimum)

56

Meanwhile, the notification has also revised the standards for thermally-processed tomato juice. It is the unfermented juice obtained by mechanical process from sound, fresh and fully ripe tomatoes and processed by heat, before or after being sealed in a container so as to prevent spoilage. The juice may also be obtained by reconstituting the concentrate with water for the purpose of maintaining the essential composition and quality factors of the juice.

The product shall have a characteristic red colour and good flavour, and should be free from foreign taste, in particular, the taste of burned or caramelised products. Mineral impurities content shall not exceed 0.1 per cent of the dry weight content reduced by common salt.

Common salt, sugar, dextrose, spices, aromatic herbs and their extracts and natural aromas and other ingredients can be added and must be free from any added colors or artificial flavours.

Serial
Number

Characteristic

Requirement

(1)

(2)

(3)

1

Vacuum
in the can in mm(minimum)

Negative

2

Head
space in the can in mm(maximum)

Seven

3

Total
soluble solids (exclusive of salt)%
by weight(minimum)

Five

4

Sodium
Chloride % by weight (maximum)

Three

5

Total
titrable acidity (expressed as citric acid) %

by
weight (maximum)

10

6

Volatile
acidity (expressed as acetic acid) % by

weight
(maximum)

0.4

7

pH
(maximum)

4.5

8

Sugar
content (expressed as invert sugar) % by

weight
(maximum)

42

The revised standards for jams, fruit jellies and marmalades have been clubbed together in the amended regulation from the earlier standards.

Jam has been defined as the product prepared from a suitable fruit ingredient of one or two or more types, which shall be as follows:

(i) Whole fruit, pieces of fruit, fruit pulp or fruit puree;(ii) With or without fruit juice or concentrated fruit juice or dehydrated fruit as an optional ingredient;(iii) Mixed with a nutritive sweetener, with or without water; and(iv) Processed to a suitable consistency

Product prepared by boiling fruit juice or fruit(s) or aqueous extracts of one or more fruits of sound quality, with or without water, expressing and straining the juice, adding nutritive sweeteners, and concentrating to such a consistency that gel formation takes place on cooling can be termed as fruit jelly.

Marmalade can be defined as a mixture brought to a suitable gelled consistency of sugars and one or more of the products obtained from fruit, including pulp, puree, juice, aqueous extracts and peel.

Jams, fruit jellies and marmalades should be prepared from any fruit ingredient singly or in combination. The prepared fruit content in jams, jellies and marmalades shall be not less than 45 per cent by weight, except in strawberry, raspberry and ginger jams, where the minimum fruit content shall be not less than 25 per cent by weight. The minimum fruit content for cashew apples shall be 23 per cent, and eight per cent for passion fruit.

Pectin derived from any fruit may be used at the good manufacturing practices (GMP) level.